cinnamon quinoa porridge w/ orange + rosemary apple recipe

May 20, 2013

You know one of the things that makes me laugh the most about this whole online world thing? The fact that I can take photos of my breakfast while still in my pajamas, robe (dressing gown) and ugg-boots and no one is none the wiser! Ha. I'm sure if my neighbours ever happened to look over our fence they would think I was crazy, heck they probably already do think I'm crazy from all the fighting they hear my kids doing out in the backyard... but to see some lady standing on a chair hunched over a wooden board taking photos at 7am while still in her jimmy-jams, well that would make for one strange sight!

To make up for my complete early-morning madness yesterday, after breakfast the kids and I did what any sane person would do when the sun is shining and went for a bike ride to the park. See, totally sane and normal eh? I feel like I've not seen the sun this past month as I've been head down - tail up finishing off the book, so it was really so lovely to get out of the house and get a little vitamin D into my system.

On the way to the park, we checked in on a couple of olive trees down the road that we're lining up to raid when they're ready. We watched them all drop to the ground and waste last year so have decided that if the same is going to happen again this year, we'd better just go and ask the owners if we can help ourselves. I hate seeing perfectly good food go to waste!

So, back to this breakfast that had me looking like a crazy woman... after the markets on Saturday where we filled our trolley with all sorts of new season apples I got thinking about a lovely new way to eat them in the morning, other than going down the usual stewed apple route. Our rosemary bush is going berserk out the back and Australian oranges are just starting to show their faces around so I figured it was worth a shot to throw them all in together. I like making porridge using all sorts of different grains (you'll notice this in the book!) and had some leftover cooked quinoa in the fridge from recipe testing that needed using up (if you don't have any leftover's I've added in how to cook from scratch too, so don't you worry). I was really happy with how this one turned out and the thought crossed my mind for a moment that I might be able to squeeze this into the book too, before I realised there really is no more room for another porridge recipe. Well not in this book anyway.

Before I go today I just wanted to say a huge thank-you to Kidspot, who have named me as one of the 5 food + wellbeing finalists in their Voices of 2013 competition! I was humbled to be included in their top 25, but to be picked as one of the final 5 and sitting alongside some of my favourite Aussie food bloggers as well, is pretty damn amazing.

cinnamon quinoa porridge with orange + rosemary apple

This is the perfect breakfast to make when you have leftover cooked quinoa at hand, as I often do. I recommend using homemade almond milk and if you haven't made your own before, now is your chance to try it out. It's ridiculously easy and much cheaper and better for you than store-bought. I used 2 granny smith apples, but any lovely tart green apple will do. Golden delicious would have been my next choice had they had some at the markets this week.

Place quinoa, almond milk, 1/2 cup water, currants, cinnamon and salt into a medium saucepan and bring up to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for 8-10 minutes, adding in more water as needed until the quinoa is soft and of a porridge consistency.

Meanwhile heat a frying pan over medium-high heat, add coconut oil or ghee and add rosemary. Cook while stirring for about 1 minute or until fragrant and slightly crispy around the edges. Add finely diced apple and cook, stirring occasionally for 4-5 minutes or until tender and slightly caramelised around the edges. Add honey and orange zest and continue to cook for a further minute until lovely and sticky before adding in the orange juice and reducing to a slightly sticky glaze. Remove from the heat and serve over cinnamon quinoa porridge.

* To cook quinoa, bring 1 1/2 cups (375ml) water to the boil in a medium saucepan, add 1/2 cup (92g) rinsed quinoa
cover with a lid and reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook 10-12 minutes
until all the water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender. Remove from the
heat, leave the lid on and set aside to steam for a further 5 minutes before
removing lid and fluffing up with a fork. This will give you approximately 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa, however I don't ever cook quinoa in such small amounts and tend to cook 1-2 cups of raw quinoa at a time, leaving me with plenty of leftovers to use in recipes such as this!

Ha, I do exactly the same thing, snapping pictures of my breakfast in my pjs like a crazy lady!I'm slowly learning to love quinoa for breakfast – I don't love the taste as much as oats and the texture is a little strange but I know how good it is for me! This looks delicious – I love the addition of cinnamon.

What a beautiful blog you have! I have just discovered it, and I am thrilled! Lovely recipes, well-written texts and amazing photos! Hehe, I had to laugh about your morning photography, I often feel the same way – everything around the table (including myself) look like a mess, but luckily that doesn´t show in the pictures :p The porridge looks absolutely delicious!

I've no idea how many times I've taken work calls in my pj's and bed-shoe-socks, thinking to myself how lucky I am that I can do that! Lines however may have been crossed when I lived in a three story townhouse, with no air con, and an upstairs office as I would take those calls in much less than pj's… survival skills for a Melbourne Summer, I had no choice!Congrats on the nomination too, I've only just discovered your blog and am already in love based on the most recent recipe. Looks and sounds amazing!

Your porridge looks like great and healthy comfort food! I had to laugh out loud about your description of taking food photos while still in your pajamas – I sometimes guess that experiences like that are the true (and shared) essence of blogging ;-).

Rebekah

May 23, 2013 at 12:35 pm

I have honestly never seen a bowl of porridge look so good! Had to comment and tell you that i can't stop looking at this post, i just want to drop everything and make porridge! I'll definitely be making this as a post-market sunday breakfast this weekend, can't wait 🙂